Sleeping dry on the tundra

[LarryB]

Will be caribou hunting, hiking in past the 5 mile mark, and camping on the tundra for the first time this fall.
How do y'all stay dry while sleeping in the tundra in a tent?
I won't be using a floorless tipi style tent.
Do you sleep on the tent floor? Are tents truly waterproof enough to stay dry doing this?
I know staying dry on the tundra day and night is important for comfort and safety so want to make sure I'm prepared.

 

[AKM]

Tents are fine on the tundra. I’ve slept in tents and under just a rain fly. The dew or rain is the killer. A rain fly with a ground tarp was plenty to keep us dry and comfortable. Putting down duff or spruce boughs kept the floor ok as well.

 

[rogeti]

All i can say that was one of the worst nights of sleep I have ever got. Maybe it was the sow grizzly and 2 cubs we saw an hour before going to bed 400 yards from the tent. Or it was the fact the only flat level ground was either on rock next to the lake or a marshy area we slept in and the cold from the water froze me.

 

[sniper61]

Ground cloth like tyfac and an inflatable sleeping pad . I'm a lot older now and went to a ultralight cot.

 

[LarryB]

Ground cloth like tyfac and an inflatable sleeping pad . I'm a lot older now and went to a ultralight cot.

Great idea. Thank you.

 

[diamond10x]

Just don’t set up shop on a body of water and you’ll stay dry, it’s no different than camping anywhere else.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Don't pick tussock patches for a site. If the tussock heads are calf high, moisture likely lurks in the saddles. High ground or highest elevation within sight are usually driest, lowest will likely have moisture.

No ground cloth for me but definitely an inflatable mattress (Big Agnes 2.5" is the shiz)

Embrace the suck, it's temporary and necessary.

 

[keithw_007]

Sleeping pad with r5 or greater, flat ground is tuff to find but it is out there. Plenty of other items out there to make your body hurt, so spend some extra time to finding a good spot.

 

[Geewhiz]

I am curious to hear from guys who hunted the north slope this year and previous years and how the ground saturation this year compared to previous years. I didn't take a single step in the tundra that wasn't wet and if I stood in the same place for more than 30 seconds the laces of my boots were under water. I did 40+ miles on the tundra and it was like this everywhere I went.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Oh yea Gee, all across the northern region permafrost is thawing underneath the last four years of El-Nino moisture at surprising rates. The warm moisture saturates the ground layer and then pools atop the ice layer not far beneath the surface. I agree, the tundra has been wetter the past few years, not just along the road corridor.

 

[Whitefox82]

I was on the south slopes of the Brooks in 2023 and it was exceptionally dry. I heard it was a dryer summer that year. No mosquito/flys didn’t even use repellent. Water between tussocks was low. Only time I got wet feet was when I stepped in a deep hole crossing a creek and went in to my thighs, but I was tagged out and packing the meat back to camp so I didn’t care much at that point!!

 

[BowMan86]

Look closely at the map. There are areas to camp on dry creek beds out there with elevated areas of river rock. Works great til you get a ton of rain and the water comes up. This is our camp 5 miles out off the west side of the road.

 

[mdomas]

following this post! I had a big agnes tigerwall UL2 for my trip to montana. held up for about 3 days of rain then let it all through. Curious what tents people run!

 

[Whitefox82]

I am still running an MSR Hubba Bubba. It’s been pretty good, no complaints, but I am looking at potentially a Dyneema tent in the next few seasons.

 

[Joel/AK]

I used a bivy bag. Kept me and the sleeping bag dry. Not perfect but it worked. The 3 season north face tent helped

 

[buffybr]

In 1980 several of my friends and I did a DIY Caribou out of King Salmon, AK. We took an umbrella tent witn a floor to sleep in. The weather was too bad to fly out of King Salmon and Eddy King let us sleep on the floor of the new airplane hangar he was building.

When we flew out the next day I asked him if we could have a piece of scrap plastic to put under our tent. Only two of us could fly out each time, and I gave the first two the plastic to put under the tent. I was in the second group to fly out and when I got to camp the first two guys had set up our tent and were trying to tie the plastic on top of the tent as a rain fly.

The tundra in the area that we hunted was like walking on a huge wet sponge. The floor of our tent was not waterproof and we virtually slept in water for a week.

 

[mdomas]

I got myself a new Nemo kunai. I guess we will see how it does out there. Reviews look good!

 

[guscottie]

Hoping that my KUIU tent holds up and keeps me dry. I've got a tyvek tarp and am sleeping on a pad as well.

 

[DMurphy]

Hoping that my KUIU tent holds up and keeps me dry. I've got a tyvek tarp and am sleeping on a pad as well.

I am going to have a similar setup. Please report back the pros and cons of your setup once you have returned. Good luck!

 

[Mark H. Young]

Folks,

I lived in Dillingham, AK for 22 years and witnessed the rise and fall of the Mulchatna Caribou herd. When I arrived in Dillingham there were about 20,000 caribou in the herd. In the next 15 years the herd increased to 200,000 and now there is no hunting season. Amazing how it crashed.

During the peak of the herd, we were allowed 5 caribou each. Making for some fun hunting and with so many animals it wasn't too hard to find a good bull and I shot some dandys.

As for camping I don't remember every being wet in the tent. You just need the best tent you can afford. I used North Face and set out some incredibly bad weather in them. A sleeping pad and a good bag are essential. I never used anything other than leather boots for hunting unless we were doing it by boat and then it was hip boots all the way.

If you are a non-resident most of these flying services/drop of guys now will provide the whole camp and everything you need for a price. I think if I was to do it again, I would rent the camping gear. Hauling all that gear on the plane to Alaska is a real pain.

Mark